Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1887-06-15

tempest. Thrice it seemed as though she
would go clear, as she took sheer" and
| shot ahead about half her length, but it was
| not enough, and when she struck our j1b-
boom passed between the port shrouds Of her
mizzen rigging. For an instant everything
| hung but with the way the sea was running
| to have remained many minutes interlocked
| would have proved fatal to both vessels, as it
would not have taken long to grind holes in
| their sides large enough to sink them. l
| gave the word to "cut away" and with few
| strokes of the keen axes, the cracking of
breaking spars and the falling blocks and
| gear could be heard above the screeching of
| the gale and the excited calls of the fright
ened seamen. When our jibboom and
bowsprit went they brought with them
the foretopmast and foretopgallant mast,
with all attached, and when these lofty
| spars came tumbling down about our ears
| there was scarcely a man who did not receive
some injury. This could see at glance,
| for over half the number were writhing
| under the fallen wreckage. But we had no
| time then to attend to the wounded; the two
| vessels must be kept apart, even though all
| the masts should have to be cut away. A
| look at our unfortunate comrade disclosed
the fact that her mizzenmast had gone by the
board, her wheel was unshipped, her quarter
rail broken, and her stern was badly smashed
For moment or two after the masts had
fallen. the two banks held together, and then
gradually swung apart, we holding firmly to
the bottom, and the other drifting away into
the mist and out of sight. The first thing to
be done was to sound the pumps and to our
great relief we found that we had a tight
vessel under u.s.
Then the cries and groans Of the wounded
Dpyt cal IaI for tba oft <xf ,b<~
were uninjured. Four men were found to be
badly hurt, one so seriously that he lay I'M
conscious on deck, bleeding profusely from a
wound in the head, received from an iron
bound quarter block that had fallen from tho
topsail yard. closer examination showed
he had fractured the skull, and we knew that
his case was hopeless, SO laying him in out of
the storm, we turned our attention to the
others, and soon had them fixed up quite
comfortably. The rest of us went to work to
clear away the wreck, and it was long after
dark before we were through.
When night came on the gale began
to abate, and by midnight it was completely
broken. The morning after tho snorther'
dawned clear and pleasant, but seldom had
the tropical sun looked down upon such a
scene of devastation. Strange to say, the col
liding vessel of the day before had brought
up to her anchors after drifting about half a
mile toward the open sea, where she lay with
her mizzenmast gone; while we now noticed
that the American flag was flying at half
mast from the main, denoting the visitation
of death. The captain had succumbed to the
fever. 49,
A large Boston brig. which was more than
half loaded, had been driven hard and fast
ashore, and now lay on her beam ends. with
her yard arms in the water. Several lighters.
that had taken refuge in little creek which
made into the heart of the island, had become
total wrecks, while their detected crews sat
in groups on the sand and bewailed their sad
fortunes.
The sailor whose skull had been fractured
died during the morning. After we had
made preparations for the burial, we rowed
over to the bark to see how much she was
damaged A short pull over the water.
which was now calm and smooth, SO different
from what it had been twelve hours before.
placed us alongside of the bark. At the gang
way l was met by the mate
"Our captain has gone" he began in low
voice. HE must have died while our two
vessels were afoul of each other, for he was
apparently doing well at dinner time and
just as soon as we got apart and found that
we wernt going down, went into the cabin
and there found him dead"
volunteered to send my men ashore to
prepare the two graves, and also to call upon
the officials and obtain permission to bury the
bodies Key Francis is but a small island of
perhaps some five miles square, but out of
this area there is less than one mile of firm
clear ground; the rest is dense Jungle and i'm
penetrable mango swamps. The "clearedn
places are the extreme southwestern point ON
which stand the lighthouse and two or three
rude houses occupied by the keeper Of the
light and the few pilots who are needed to
bring the vessels safely in and out of the port.
while the other Is little knoll, not more than
quarter of an acre in extent, and this place
has been chosen for burial ground, which is
dotted over with rough head boards. Near
the edge of the clearing the soil bore the an
pearance of never having been disturbed. and
here the men began their work.
Scarcely had a dozen shovelfuls of earth
been thrown out when an exclamation from
one OF the men attracted our attention
we were actually rehearsing the scene
from Hamlet" where the grave DIGGER mn.
earths the skull of the deceased Vortex. bnt
the participation in this case was far from he-
ing so jolly as the one in the play while he
contemplated the CHASTITY relic lying in his
shovel. We had unwittingly disclosed the re-
mains of some poor fellow, but with care it
was Immediately consigned to the grave and
reverently covered up
Selecting another place in remote corner
of the grounds, we essayed a second time to
find resting place for our dead, but with no
better results than before, for within two
feet OF the surface human bones we're again
encountered. To have sought further for the
graves would have been, we We're convinced
entirely useless, so this time we continued
digging, and carefully collecting the molder-
ing bones we buried them all together in
small place by themselves.
MARLToN DOWNING.